Django Unchained: Art Film, Spaghetti Western, Blaxploitation Movie or just a waste of film!

If you take Quentin Tarantino add Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio; stir in some Samuel L. Jackson and a dose of pre Civil War slavery you should have a recipe for a great movie experience, right? What you actually get is the newly released "Django Unchained". A sometimes cheesy but unapologetic conversation piece, that is part Spaghetti Western, part Shock film and part Blaxploitation movie. The problem is - what these parts add up to is hard to say.

The film is an over the top spin off of the 1966 Italian spaghetti Western "Django" directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Franco Nero. The new film "Django Unchained" is directed by Quentin Tarantino and casts Jamie Foxx as the protagonist Django with Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson in supporting roles. Tarantino in his typical allegorical form uses gratuitous violence, shock value, eclectic humor and historical license to paint one of his extreme visions on the silver screen. The film will no doubt attract and impress Tarantino's cult of "gore jockey's" but I think many viewers will be drawn to theaters by great trailers and clever marketing only to be thoroughly let down. African American audiences may even feel somewhat betrayed by Foxx', Jackson' and Washington's decision to do this film.

The movie takes place in the old South just a few years before the Civil War. Our heroes are Django (Jamie Foxx) a former slave, and Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) a charming but deadly dentist-turned-bounty-hunter, each of whom is funny, clever and stylishly irreverent. Django is at times too articulate, elegant and skilled to be a newly freed slave which compounds the license Tarantino has taken with realism in this piece. The film also runs the risk of leading audiences astray presenting entertainment as historical fact. At one point DiCaprio's character gives a soliloquy on the anatomical reasons for the superiority of a white mans intellect only moments after Jackson's character figures out Django's plan and explains it to the confounded DiCaprio. I fear many audience members might believe the bogus science and miss the subtlety that the black slave is actually smarter than his master!


The films content is unusual and thought provoking. The storyline is at times uncomfortably inappropriate, which remarkably makes the viewing experience simultaneously good and bad. In my opinion this is the best thing about Tarantino's work. The scene with hooded Klansman is probably the funniest in the film, but the question arises are we laughing at the KKK or laughing with them. Audiences laughing and having a good time with the Klan; perish the thought. I think the time to stop praising Quentin Tarantino for being a cinematic savant has come. This film should be classified as entertainment at best and in my opinion has very little critical value. It may even be seen by some as a waste of talented actors and as using good film to express very nondescript opinions on very serious and sensitive subject matter. Make no mistake this film is not "Roots"!


The bottom line is "Django Unchained" is either the best bad movie or the worst good movie I have ever seen. If you are looking for a film with depth and historical value don't bother with Django; go see "Les Miserables". For high quality graphics and adventure; don't look here, check out "The Hobbit". If storyline, heroic characters, high budget action and good endings are what you want; Django doesn't do it, try "Skyfall". What Django does is raise a lot of questions and use film as a canvas for Tarantino's strange artistic visions. If you are a person who can find value in artistic (painting like) screen shots, humor in over the top and unrealistic violence and pleasure in the juxstaposition of contrasting (improperly placed) music styles or if you are a film maker this is a good flick for you to check out. Otherwise I recommend you spend the $13 on a deluxe car wash and use the long 3 hour showing time to slow cook a pot roast!

One thing though Samuel L. Jackson's portrayal of the despicable "uncle tom", Stephen is Oscar worthy; it was brilliant!